In the early days of the funny pages, they were so called not because they were aggregations of comic strips, but rather because they were a farrago of funny features. These included jokes, riddles, puzzles, poems, humorous illustrations, and, eventually, comic strips. Of course, the comic strip would come to displace its forebear, paralleling the order of parent-child relations in place since Zeus and his siblings overthrew their father Cronus.

Today, I’ve added a passel of prose, puzzles, puns, and pictures to our collection, from the days before this mutiny of merriment. Both are features that have been in place on Barnacle Press for some time, but both have had their numbers increased greatly as of today.

Polly Evans’ Story Page for Boys and Girls is, as you might surmise, a collection of wholesome entertainment aimed at the younger set. There are math puzzles, cut-out projects, and stories ranging from the adventurous to the prosaic. The Top O’ the Mornin’ was aimed at a more general audience, and mixes comic prose and poems with panel gag comics.

Both features display top-notch illustration, the gags are funny, the puzzles puzzling, and the childrens’ stories are charming. The writing tends to be far more archaic in register than you would see in contemporary comics, but that only adds to the delight, for me. Though these pages fall afield from the usual fare that Barnacle Press trades in, I heartily recommend spending some time perusing them, if only to look at all of the pictures. If you do, you can’t help but be sucked in to enjoying the features they illustrate.

(Please allow me to beg your pardon for the preceding purple prose and abounding alliteration. Reading this stuff, the style rubs off on me easily, and it’s simply too much fun to deny.)